


to Find their Calling

by Koayyy



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Pokemon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 06:24:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20077603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koayyy/pseuds/Koayyy
Summary: Lucifer and Sandalphon have been on a journey together to find themselves for quite some time. One day, Lucifer rushes an injured Shiny Eevee into a Pokemon Centre, and as always, Sandalphon follows him like a shadow without purpose.





	to Find their Calling

**Author's Note:**

> While the Pokemon Fandom is currently a dumpster fire, I've been sitting here thinking about this AU. Enjooy!!

The moment they enter the familiar Pokémon Centre, Lucifer rushes to the nurse with the Eevee clutched close. Red blood stands out like a torch in the night against her silver coat, staining his white clothing and his beloved fingerless gloves.

Sandalphon would’ve stopped him from recklessly picking her up without a second thought, but by now he knows what happens when he tries to challenge Lucifer when it comes to such Pokémon matters. Especially with an injured Pokémon.

The assistant Chansey takes the Eevee from Lucifer’s hands and disappears into the back along with the nurse, but he goes with them. Sandalphon doesn’t follow, instead crouching down to place down their bags and reach for his Pokéballs.

With a graceful throw, he lets all his Pokemon out before catching their Pokéballs and storing them back into the bag. His Noctowl flaps his wings and lands comfortably onto his favourite spot on his shoulder, while Linoone lies down on the cushioned seats right beside him with Deino following after in a clumsy matter. Vulpix jumps up to sit on the seats to face him, and he can see the worry in his eyes even without Lucifer’s help.

Sandalphon reaches out to gently pet Vulpix’s head, fingers running through his red-brown pelt. Deino sniffs and walks forward to bump her head against his arm, and so he moves to give her some pets as well. Linoone pries open an eye to stare at him, but doesn’t move from his spot.

After he makes sure they’re less frantic and calmer, he tells them to stay put near the bags and exits the Pokémon Centre. The sun has long set, and he’s greeted by a dark sky. Noctowl moves to perch on his forearm when he holds his arm out.

He finally lets out a sigh. Noctowl tilts his head to one side.

“Lucifer is always so reckless, and it’s not like I can stop him,” Sandalphon starts, watching as Noctowl leans forward as if he’s intently listening. “I just don’t know what I can do.”

He’s sure his Pokémon have already gotten bored of hearing him talk about Lucifer this and Lucifer that to them all the time, but Noctowl doesn’t pull back his head. Instead, he’s staring back at him with his red eyes.

“Both of us are still figuring it all out, but it feels like Lucifer is so much closer to his answer than I am,” Sandalphon says in a quieter tone, breaking eye contact with Noctowl to look at the dark sky instead.

He’s always turned to the sky for guidance, but there’s no star in sight tonight.

Noctowl crosses the distance by hopping forward and with one swift motion pecks at his cheek. It startles him out of his thoughts and into a little laugh. Noctowl hoots at him.

Sandalphon wants to understand his Pokémon partners, he really does, but he’s not Lucifer. He understands how research works, but he’s nowhere near Lucilius’ level. He’s average when it comes to battling, but nowhere near Azazel’s level. And he doesn’t even want to think about what Belial or Olivia are doing in an attempt to help Lucilius in his research.

He set out on this journey with Lucifer to discover where they belong in the world, but Lucifer is already so far ahead. He’s being left behind so quickly.

Noctowl pecks his cheek and hoots again, but all it does at this point is frustrate him. Right before he decides to do something stupid, his Deino comes stumbling out of the Pokémon Centre and tackles the back of his leg.

He almost falls over, and Noctowl is smart enough to get off his perch and instead fly in the air. Sandalphon whirls around and gives Deino a glare, despite knowing full well that she can’t see it.

“What have I told you about tackling me?” He scolds with a hand placed on his hip. Deino wilts a bit, but she perks up and cries at him a second later.

“What is it?” Sandalphon asks after grabbing his anger and shoving it into a box for later, making sure it doesn’t leak into his voice. It’s not his Pokémons’ fault that he’s frustrated at himself. 

Deino takes a bit of his long pants into her mouth and inches backwards as she pulls. He almost loses his balance and falls over again, but manages to balance after shifting his leg. Wouldn’t want to squish her.

“Okay okay, I got it! I’ll follow!” He exclaims, and she immediately lets go and turns to rush back into the Pokémon Centre. He suppresses a sigh before following after her, Noctowl flapping his wings behind him.

He follows her as she leads him pass the lobby, stopping only to grab their bags before continuing. Vulpix and Linoone are missing from their previous spots, but the bags are thankfully untouched.

With their bags in his hands and Noctowl perching on his shoulder, he follows Deino to the free resting rooms in the back. She leads him pass countless similar doors until she stops at the doorway of one. The door is open, so he carefully steps over her to see inside.

He’s greeted by the sight of Lucifer resting on his side on top of the small low bed, the previously injured Eevee sleeping peacefully against the crook of his arm. His arms are surrounding her as if trying to protect her, one hand resting perfectly on top of her head.

The rest of their Pokémon are lying down beside him, surrounding him with their fur and fluff. Lucifer’s Altaria has Lucifer’s upper body completely in his fluffy white feathers, his Kirlia is sat near Lucifer’s head with his thin hands on top of his hair, and his Alolan Vulpix is lying down against his chest, her snowy white pelt blending in with Altaria’s feathers.

Right beside her is Sandalphon’s Vulpix, their numerous tails intertwined. Linoone is lying down at Lucifer’s back, his head resting on Altaria’s feathers.

Sandalphon is frozen by the sight. As he considers whether to enter the room or close the door, Noctowl flies away from his shoulder to sit near Altaria. Deino takes slow and quiet steps, stopping a distance away and lying down onto the floor.

It looks like his choice has been made for him, so he gently closes the door and walks over to Deino to place the bags beside her and against the wall. At first he considers sitting against the wall and taking a nap like that, but looking at the pile reminds him of how cold the nights here are.

Sandalphon walks over to the window and closes them a bit more, only leaving enough for a bit of ice-cold wind to come in. Deino vaguely turns in his direction as he goes around searching for blankets.

He whispers when she stands up and pads closer to him, “Blankets. Can you smell them out?”

She begins sniffing around, padding here and there. He continues his own search until he hears things thumping onto the carpeted ground and turns to see the corner of a thick blanket in her mouth. Her black fur looks like it’s glowing with triumph.

He has to keep his little laugh down, but he pets her with one hand as he takes the blanket with another. She follows him as he grabs the blanket and covers the pile consisting of Lucifer and their cosy looking Pokemon. 

He considers his nap, but decides not to after watching the slow fall and rise of the Eevee’s breathing for a moment. They’re bound to be hungry when they wake up later, so he exits the room to go buy some sort of edible food. Deino tries to follow him, but he whispers to her to stay put and keep watch of the rest.

Surprisingly, Linoone is the one to get up and follow him outside. He doesn’t miss Altaria’s gaze on him as he exits the room with quiet steps.

Thankfully, the lamps beside the dirt road are lit up, so Sandalphon doesn’t have to walk in complete darkness. Linoone getting closer to his leg every few moments doesn’t help either. One would think that evolving would’ve gotten rid of his habit of zigzagging through his legs, but it has only seemed to change it into a more subtle habit.

“Pokémon are such interesting creatures, especially their ability to evolve,” Lucifer had said, a long time ago. He was scrolling through a Pokédex at that time, clutching it like a precious jewel in his hands. “When they fulfil certain conditions, they become a better version of themselves.”

Sandalphon remembers what he thought that moment. ‘Will we find where we belong like that too?’

He’s long since stopped imagining what that moment would be like, what that moment would feel like. Right now, at this point in time, he just wants to continue this journey with Lucifer. Where they’ll end up doesn’t matter as much anymore.

Linoone’s cry startles him out of his thoughts, and that’s when he notices he’s already walked way past the vending machine of edible hot food that he’s aiming for. Linoone is sitting right in front of the machine, looking at him like he’s both confused and disappointed in his trainer.

Sandalphon closes his eyes and counts to ten. When he opens his eyes, he walks over to look at the selection of food. Linoone steps aside and remains quiet. Sandalphon ignores his gaze as he pulls his wallet out and counts the funds.

Lucifer can’t manage his money, so it’s only logical that Sandalphon has taken up the duty. Extra hassle is better than Lucifer going hungry after buying extra expensive treats and costumes for his Pokemon for the third time.

He understands the need to treat one’s Pokémon from time to time, but not to the extent of spoiling them. Especially the two Vulpix, he doesn’t want to break his arms from their weight when he needs to pick them up. Doubly so when the two are so glued together and unwilling to let go most of the time.

His finger hovers over the button for the machine to dispense Poké Pellets, but moves away when he remembers that they still have a few containers left in their bags. Linoone whines.

“We have Poké Pellets in the bag,” Sandalphon says without turning to look at Linoone. He hears another whine while he presses the button for a Taiyaki, taking it into his left hand while making sure Linoone wouldn’t climb him like a tree to steal his food.

It takes him a bit more manoeuvring with his hands, but he manages to get a box of Yakisoba for Lucifer into his hands. The walk back to the Pokémon Centre is equally as quiet until Linoone cries out and causes him to stop in his tracks.

Linoone is off the path, right by the river he passed by. Sandalphon walks over to Linoone, and keeps an eye on him as he prepares his claws before sinking them into the soil. He carefully crouches down as watches him start to dig.

It reminds him of the time when Linoone was just a Zigzagoon. He frequently went into the wild at night to see Pokémon in their wild habitats, it was a habit due to Hoothoot if anything.

When he first saw the beat-up Zigzagoon licking his wounds under the cover of shadows, he hadn’t asked. It was when he saw the other kids from his town kicking and throwing Zigzagoon around under daylight did he move and protect him.

“Why are you helping that Pokémon!?” One of the kids had shouted, “it’s nothing but a weak common that no one likes.”

To this day, he still doesn’t know what part of that sentence in particular solidified the idea in his head. It doesn’t really matter, since he gained one of his best Pokémon without even needing to fight him.

(All of his Pokémon are the best, but he doesn’t admit it even in his head.)

A cry from Linoone startles him out of his reminiscing, and he blinks when he sees the sparkle in the middle of Linoone’s paws.

Sandalphon gently places the box and wrapped Taiyaki onto the ground before reaching out. Linoone turns and pushes the sparkle into his hands, and he finally sees what he had found.

In his hands is a shining stone. It’s circular and light green in colour, but the thing that stands out the most is that it looks like there’s a star sealed inside the stone. No matter how he turns around it in his hands, the star inside it is still blinding.

Why was a stone like this hidden in the soil on the bank of a river? Did it get washed from another place after someone dropped it into the flowing water?

Linoone cries again to gain his attention. Linoone looks proud of himself, and has his head raised just a little bit higher than usual. Sandalphon lets out a chuckle as he gives him the pets he deserves. He may not know what to do with this item for now, but he’s glad it was found nonetheless.

The rest of the walk back to the Pokémon Centre is quiet. The only sounds that can be heard are the sounds of nightlife in combination with his and Linoone’s footsteps. It’s calming, if anything.

When Sandalphon enters the room after Linoone, he’s slightly surprised to see Lucifer awake. Lucifer turns and looks equally as surprised at the food in his hands.

“Sandalphon, you didn’t have to,” Lucifer says, but Sandalphon still walks over to put the food onto the low table beside the bed.

“It’s fine, I wanted to,” he says as he hands the still warm box of Yakisoba, along with wooden chopsticks, to Lucifer. Lucifer gently smiles as he takes it from him, making sure not to accidentally hit the dazed Eevee sitting in his lap.

Sandalphon doesn’t touch his Taiyaki, instead he walks over to their bags to grab the Poké Pellets. The moment they can hear the rustle of pellets bumping around, all the Pokémon in the room except the Eevee rush off the bed and crowd towards him.

“H-hey, one at a time!” Sandalphon lets out in panic as he struggles to not be knocked over by their Pokémon scrambling for food. Lucifer laughs a little at his struggle.

“Come now, you heard him,” Lucifer chides, and their Pokémon immediately behave. Sandalphon is slightly bitter that they’re playing favourites. “How many times has this happened?” Lucifer asks as he finally opens the box of Yakisoba in his hands.

“Too many to count,” Sandalphon mutters as he pours Poké Pellets into another bowl and slides it to Deino. She pushes the bowl away from the others before she quietly digs in.

Once the others have their bowls and are eating, Sandalphon grabs the Taiyaki from the table. He munches on it while crouching near Deino, grabbing the pellets that jump out of the bowl to throw them back in.

“How is she?” Sandalphon asks as he passes a cylinder container of Poké Pellets over. Lucifer places his box of Yakisoba down before he takes it and pours out a palm-full.

He reaches down to hold the pellets to Eevee. She only starts eating after sniffing for a while, seemingly not trusting Lucifer yet.

“She’ll be fine after a bit of rest,” Lucifer says as he watches Eevee slowly eat. “But the wounds in her heart–”

“Will take longer to heal, that’s natural,” Sandalphon cuts in and completes his sentence.

“Yes, I suppose you can put it that way,” Lucifer says as he continues to focus on the Eevee.

Sandalphon sighs before taking the box of Yakisoba, grabbing a mouthful with the chopsticks before bringing it close to Lucifer’s mouth.

“Sandalphon–,” Lucifer starts, but doesn’t finish.

“Just eat, idiot,” Sandalphon says, muttering the last word under his breath. Lucifer complies and eats.

Lucifer looks cute when he’s eating, and it takes Sandalphon all of the energy he can muster to not blush all the way to his ears.

“A–anyway, where do you think we’re going after this?” Sandalphon asks instead, praying to whatever god is out there that Lucifer doesn’t notice his fumbling.

Lucifer is so observant. How he had not seen through Sandalphon’s attempts at hiding his affection is beyond him.

“Hmm,” Lucifer hums as he thinks, only stopping to chew when another bite comes his way. “If this Eevee wants to go back to the wild, then we’ll go back and drop her off where we found her.”

Sandalphon highly doubts that’ll happen, but nods anyway. No Pokémon can resist Lucifer’s charm, even if Lucifer himself is blind to it.

“If she wants to join us, then we can go straight to the next town. I heard they train Mudbray and other such Pokémon in the fields there. It would be a fun learning experience.”

Training Mudbray, was it for races? Well, if Lucifer thinks it’ll be interesting, then that’s where they’ll go.

Lucifer is their leader, while Sandalphon is merely just his shadow. After all without Lucifer, Sandalphon is nothing but an average trainer that came from a small, insignificant town.

“If that is what you want,” is all Sandalphon says, placing the emptied box back onto the table. He ends up crouched near Deino again, throwing the spilt pellets back into her bowl.

She whines to get his attention, and even without eyes, her sympathy still somehow gets through to him. Sandalphon musters up the energy to give her a small smile while he pets her, looking at the purple spots in her fur like he’s looking into a mirror.


End file.
